The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to bring their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment generated an additional four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland as of 1853.
However, there is to date no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and it is at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened more info in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not just a huge success therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we have been acquainted with today. It was two years before this that this iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints how the structures were to difficult to locate because of the camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for a decade.
For the people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.